Superman (1987-1999)

Post-Crisis Superman starts here, and runs through the end the Jurgens era. After Superman #150, the books really did take a change in tone. Then, things get a little wonky with One Year Later (does it match up to these comics?) up to the massive 2011 reboot.

The Superman Confidential series is ignored for this map. Since the continuity backstory was tweaked following One Year Later in 2006, stories set in the past after that point don’t match up with what was published. Most of the arcs did not give any idea when they took place other than “in the past”. (That said, the Kryptonite arc that started the series was pretty decent, and worth a look, just not as part of this continuity.)

A note about DC’s company wide crossovers — my general rule is to get at least the Batman and Superman related issues. Others might collect differently. So, if you just want to concentrate on Superman, skip the non-Superman issues. I’ll try to note where a tie-in from a non-Superman comic is essential or highly recommended.

There are a few volumes that are actual trades, which I’ve noted. Beware, a lot of Superman trades are known to cut out pages or panels, or in some cases, only excerpt certain issues (or even just panels) for a theme. I do not have any of those.

key
AoS – Adventures of Superman
MoS – Man of Steel (refers to both the mini and ongoing)
MoT – Man of Tomorrow

(This volume spans about five years of Superman’s career. Seeing as how we’re definitely at the point where there are no more “untold” tales, and even how anything between 2006 and 2011 probably shouldn’t be included here either, it’s safe to finalize this volume.

I got rid of the other three “Year One” annuals because they did not fit neatly into the narrative. It would have required a lot of spicing or replacing of MoS issues. Other issues that might make it into this volume are Jack Kirby’s Fourth World #20 – a book by Byrne that retells Superman’s first meeting with Fourth World characters – and the 3 page silent story from DCU Holiday Bash by Jurgens. Both kind of fit between MoS #4-5.

This volume was originally three volumes, but I combined them when I realized I didn’t need any more flexibility during the Early Years, and I didn’t care for any other Legends crossovers. I’m comfortable folding the Legends mini-series into this project because Byrne did the art.

I used the World of Superman blog as my guide for inserting some of the later day issues.)

(Action Comics #588 continues from Hawkman #10. But, since Superman only appears on the last two pages and everything is recapped at the beginning of AC #588, I got rid of the book. The order of the issues from that point on is derived from a page in AoS #430 that recaps about 5 different arcs as spanning one week.)

(Millennium covers the issues between Superman #13 and AoS #437. I couldn’t get interested enough in the event as a whole to bind or read it. Besides, it really messed up the pacing of Superman. The first two Superman tie-ins were supposed to take place back to back, but there were three other books in between.)

Worlds of Superman
World of Krypton #1-4
World of Smallville #1-4
World of Metropolis #1-4

(This volume is optional. It may not actually go right here, but I couldn’t figure out a good enough place to fit all 12 issues together.)

(This marks the end of the Byrne era, which is why I made a volume break here. The placement of Superman Annual #2 was a best guess based on clues found in ads for the book. Also, the story in AoS #443 was originally planned for an annual that year, as evidenced by it being 30 pages, and also not promoted beforehand.)

(I shifted Action #643 up from the next volume. While it’s cool to start a new volume with Superman’s big return, there are several subplots that directly continue from the issue before it. While Action #643 ends with a “continued”, it’s not directly picked up on in the next issue. Plus, I think it’s included in DC’s Exile trade, although that trade butchers a lot of the issues contained to get as lean a story as possible. I left the Hostile Takeover backups in place. It would actually interrupt the flow of the story to move them.)

(The Superman Special by Walt Simonson was released in 1992, but was originally planned to be Superman Annual #3. It takes place somewhere around this volume, as it still has Lex Luthor in it, and references Superman #43 as “last month”. I was inclined to put it at the end of the volume, until I listened to a “From Crisis to Crisis” podcast and one of the hosts said it took place before Lois and Clark started dating, probably somewhere before AoS #468. Since I had already bound the previous volume and did not want to place the special at the beginning of a volume, I moved it over to Superman From the Ages. The issue itself is a retelling of Denny O’Neil’s Sand Superman storyline from the 1970s.)

(The actual Time and Time Again arc runs in the issues between AoS #476-478. But all of the issues here kind of fit together. This volume shows the beginnings of Lois and Clark’s engagement, as well as Lois learning Superman’s ID. That theme is continued through TaTA.)

(Man of Steel #3 is part of War of the Gods, but there is no need to have any of that crossover included. To me, it was way too confusing and convoluted. In fact, it’s hard to follow in the second half, because all of the parts are numbered wrong, if they are numbered at all. Also, between War of the Gods, Armageddon 2001 in the annuals, Breakdowns in the Justice League books, and the ongoing Superman saga, 1991 is a real mess of a year if you try to get everything in proper chronological order, because all of those storylines reference or cross between one another, in some cases, multiple times.)

(Panic in the Sky itself ends about halfway through AoS 489, but there are other plot threads that continue for a few issues afterward. Superman #68 continues into Deathstroke #12, but the two issues act like a “TV crossover”, where part of the plot is sort of continued, but not the main plot. Since Superman only appears on one page of the Deathstroke issue, I dropped it.)

(I have combined the Death and Funeral issues, because individually, they would be small volumes. If you don’t want to splice issues, put all of JLA #70 after AoS #498. I would love to be able to go from Superman #77 directly into AoS #500, but both the Legacy and Supergirl specials are referenced later, mainly in that Lex Luthor II shows up with a broken foot suffered in the Supergirl special.)

(I think the trade of Return of Superman only reprints select pages from AoS #505 and Action #692, so not a good option if you’re going for a complete Superman collection. It also omits some pages from GL #46 as well because they are redundant, which is what I have done as well. Pages 19-22 either summarize Superman #82 before it comes out, or sets up the next issue of GL, neither of which is needed for someone reading through the Superman storyline. I prefer Action #692 at the end of the this book, because it’s more about tying up loose ends from the Death/Return, rather than moving ahead, which is what the books in the next volume focus on.)

(Good luck with MoS #30 and the Colorforms cover. There is a regular edition…but what’s the fun in that? Okay, I went and got the regular edition to bind and kept the Colorforms cover to play with. Originally, I had MoS #31 at the end of this book, but moved it to the beginning of the next. It sort of kicks off most of the subplots in the Fall of Metropolis book into high gear. It also provides a convenient spot for Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey. )

(The trade of Bizzaro’s World – which is what I used for those issues – cuts out the final 2 panels of Superman #88, which isn’t enough to bother me. The one line of dialogue that is lost is quicky recapped in the following issue. MoS #35 is part of both Fall of Metropolis and Worlds Collide – the crossover with Milestone. I give it priority to being a part of “Fall”, but it should be included in both volumes. To keep this book from getting bloated, I separated Worlds Collide out into the next volume, which moves MoS #36 out of publication order, but it doesn’t really affect the ongoing storyline. The 2011 RetroActive special that was suppose to take place around MoS #31 just does not neatly fit into continuity.)

(AoS #530 and MoT #3 are also part of Underworld Unleashed. However, it’s dealt mainly as a subplot, and not vital to worrying about putting the two stories together. In fact, at this point, I’m not even bothering with UU by itself.)

(MoT #9 is not a Pulp Heroes story, but is a recap issue of sorts. It slows down the main narrative. This Pulp volume is easily skippable. The only annual that is referenced anywhere else is Superman Annual #9, and one of those references actually occurs in Superman #126.)

(I’m skipping the Genesis event and just putting the three tie-ins in their normal order. Those tie-ins are MoS #72, Superman #128, and AoS #551. I kind of want to call this book Transformed 2: Electric Bugaloo.)

(This is when the books separated for a while to tell stories of Superman in different eras. Some would probably try to separate them out, but they all start to converge at the end, so keeping them in publication order works.)

(The four issues starting with Action #749 came out after DC 1 Million, but I moved it back to make for better sized books. I don’t think there’s any specific story element that requires it to be after DC1M.)

(For those making their own DC 1 Million using different series, the listing that DC had in the back of each book was actually a very workable reading order. I moved Chronos to the end, because it works well as an epilogue. If I were to do it again, I would probably move the Starman issue around, so the two Superman issues around it could be back to back. JLA #1M is basically DC1M #2.5.)

And then Jeph Loeb and company came on board, in the first major overhaul of the post-Crisis Superman. Prior to this, creative changes were usually handled one or two at a time.

From 1991-1997, the annuals were all part of themes or crossovers. Most of them could be moved to their own volumes. As mentioned above, 1995 was “Year One”. Below is a list of the rest of the annuals, but not full maps.

1993 – Bloodlines
Action Annual #5, AoS Annual #5, Superman Annual #5, MoS Annual #2
(these actually take place during Reign of the Supermen, but there’s no reason to incorporate them into that story. it kills the pacing and this crossover is not usually considered good.)

I think the only one I own that’s not part of the map is the Guardians of Metropolis mini. And I’m not sure that a lot of the minis were that significant, other than allowing some of the supporting cast to shine.

I am thinking of putting Man of Steel #1-5, the Year One annuals, and some other material that fits in that era (including maybe the 3 World mini-series that Byrne oversaw) into a “Superman: Year One” book.

I agree with the year one book idea. I am making this my next project, and probably the most ambitious bind I will ever do.
Also check out Booster Gold Vol.1 6-7. It’s a pretty interesting Superman appearance, because it’s basically the first post crisis Superman story. Also Jurgens first work on Superman.
I am also going to work in some of the Legion in the 20th Century stuff from around the time of Final Night and Showcase stories for characters I really liked.

DC has announced a series of “Retro-Active” specials for summer 2011. There will be three for Superman, featuring stories set in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Obviously, the 70s one doesn’t have a place here, but the last two might.

In fact, Simonson/Bogdanove are doing the 90′s one, and say they’re placing it around MoS #31.

“For the continuity buffs out there, the ‘90s was the era of five interlocked Superman titles – our story in ‘Superman: Retro-Active’ takes place between pages, about halfway through ‘Man of Steel’ #31,” the writer added.

I was just wondering where you would put the JLA issues in Superman continuity if you were to include them. I’m not suggesting that you do for binding purposes, but I keep mine in comic drawer boxes in continuity order (as much as possible) and I’m trying to figure out how to mix in the first 23 issues of JLA (my collection stops at the end of 98).